JESUS' TEACHING ON LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE

JESUS WAS SURE ON THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
SPURGEON
The First And GreatCommandment
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind and with all your strength: this is the first
commandment.”
Mark 12:30
OUR Savior said, “This is the first and greatCommandment.” It is “the first”
Commandment–the first for antiquity, for this is older than even the Ten
Commandments of the written Law. Before Godsaid, “You shall not commit
adultery, you shall not steal,” this Law was one of the commands of His
universe. Forthis was binding upon the angels whenman was not created. It
was not necessaryforGod to say to the angels, “youshall do no murder, you
shall not steal.” Forsuchthings to them were very probably impossible. But
He did doubtless sayto them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart.” And when first Gabriel sprang out of his native nothingness at the fiat
of God, this command was binding on him.
This is “the first Commandment,” then, for antiquity. It was binding upon
Adam in the garden. Even before the creationof Eve, his wife, God had
commanded this. Before there was a necessityfor any other command this
was written upon the very tablets of his heart–“You shall love the Lord your
God.”
It is “the first Commandment,” again, not only for antiquity but for dignity.
This command, which deals with God the Almighty must evertake
precedence ofevery other. Other Commandments deal with man and man,
but this with man and his Creator. Other commands of a ceremonialkind
when disobeyed may involve but slight consequencesupon the personwho
may happen to offend. But this disobeyedprovokes the wrath of God and
brings His ire at once upon the sinner’s head. He that steals commits a gross
offense inasmuch as he has also violated this command. But if it were possible
for us to separate the two and to suppose an offense of one command without
an offense of this, then we must put the violation of this Commandment in the
first rank of offenses. This is the king of Commandments. This is the emperor

of the Law. It must take precedence ofall those princely commands that God
afterwards gave to men.
Again, it is “the first Commandment” for its justice. If men cannotsee the
justice of that Law which says, “Love your neighbor,” even if there is some
difficulty to understand how I can be bound to love the man that hurts and
injures me, there can be no difficulty here. “You shall love your God” comes
to us with so much Divine authority and is so ratified by the dictates of nature
and our own conscience, that, verily, this command must take the first place
for the justice of its demand. It is “the first” of Commandments.
Whichever Law you break, take care to keepthis. If you break the
Commandments of the ceremoniallaw, if you violate the ritual of your
Church–your offense might be propitiated by the priest–but who can escape
when this is your offense? This mandate stands fast. Man’s law you may
break and bear the penalty. But if you break this the penalty is too heavy for
your soul to endure. It will sink you, Man, it will sink you like a millstone
lowerthan the lowestHell. Take heedof this command above every other, to
tremble at it and obey it, for it is “the first Commandment.”
But the Savior said it was a “greatCommandment,” and so it is. It is “great,”
for it contains in its heart every other. When God said, “Remember to keep
holy the Sabbath Day,” when He said, “You shall not bow down unto the idols
nor worship them”–whenHe said, “You shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain,” He did but instance particulars which are all contained in
this generalmandate. This is the sum and substance ofthe Law. And indeed
even the secondCommandment lies within the folds of the first. “You shall
love your neighbor,” is actually to be found within the center of this
command, “You shall love the Lord your God.” For the loving of God would
necessarilyproduce the loving of our neighbor.
It is a greatcommand, then, for its comprehensiveness andit is a great
command for the immense demand which it makes upon us It demands all our
mind, all our soul, all our heart and all our strength. Who is he that cankeep
it, when there is no powerof manhood which is exempt from its sway? And to
him that violates this Law it shall be proven that it is a greatcommand in the
greatness ofits condemning power. It is like a greatsword having two edges,
wherewith God shall slayhim. It shall be like a greatthunderbolt from God,
wherewith He shall castdown and utterly destroythe man that goes onin his
willful breaking thereof.

Hear then, O Gentiles and O house of Israel, hear then, this day, this first and
greatCommandment–“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
I shall divide my discourse thus–first, What says this Commandment unto us?
Secondly, What say we unto it?
1. And in discussing the first point, WHAT SAYS THIS
COMMANDMENT UNTO US? we shall divide it thus. Here is first, the
duty–“You shall love the Lord your God.” Here is, secondly, the
measure of the duty–“You shall love Him with all your heart, mind,
soul, strength.” Here is, thirdly, the ground of the claim, enforcing the
duty–because He is “your God.” Goddemands us to obey, simply upon
the ground that He is our God.
To begin, then–this command demands a duty. That duty is that we should
love God. How many men disobeythis? One class of men break it willfully
and grievously. For they hate God. There is the infidel who gnashes his teeth
againstthe Almighty. The atheist who spits the venom of his blasphemy
againstthe Personof his Maker. You will find those who rail at the very being
of a God, though in their consciencesthey know there is a God, yet with their
lips will blasphemously deny His existence. These mensay there is no God
because they wish there were none. The wish is father to the thought.
And the thought demands greatgrossness ofheart and grievous hardness of
spirit before they dare to express it in words. And even when they express it in
words it needs much practice before they can do it with a bold, unblushing
countenance. Now, this command bears hard on all them that hate, that
despise, that blaspheme, that malign God or that deny His being, or impugn
His character. O Sinner! God says you shall love Him with all your heart. And
inasmuch as you hate Him, you stand this day condemned to the sentence of
the Law.
Another class ofmen know there is a God but they neglectHim. They go
through the world with indifference, “caring for none of these things.”
“Well,” they say “it makes no difference to me whether there is a God or not.”
They have no particular care about Him. They do not pay one half so much
respectto His commands as they would to the proclamationof the Queen.
They are very willing to reverence allpowers that be but He who ordained
them is to be passedby and to be forgotten. They would not be bold enough
and honestenough to come straight out and despise Godand join the ranks of
His open enemies but they forget God.

He is not in all their thoughts. They rise in the morning without a prayer.
They rest at night without bending the knee. They go through the week’s
business and they never acknowledge God. Sometimes they talk about good
luck and chance–strangedeities of their ownbrain–but God, the overruling
God of Providence, they never talk of, though sometimes they may mention
His name in flippancy and so increase their transgressions againstHim. O you
despisers and neglecters ofGod! This command speaks to you–“You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
But I hear one of these gentlemenreply, “Well, Sir, I make no pretensions to
religion but still I believe I am quite as goodas those that do. I am quite as
upright, quite as moral and benevolent. True, I do not often darken the door
of a Church or Chapel. I do not think it necessarybut I am a right goodsort.
There are many, many hypocrites in the Church and therefore I shall not
think of being religious.” Now, my dear Friend, allow me just to say one
word–whatbusiness is that of yours? Religionis a personalmatter between
you and your Maker. Your Makersays–“Youshalllove Me with all your
heart.”
It is of no use for you to point your finger acrossthe streetand point at a
minister whose life is inconsistent, or at a deaconwho is unholy, or to a
member of the Church who does not live up to his profession. You have
nothing to do with that. When your Makerspeaks to you, He appeals to you
personally. And if you should tell Him, “My Lord, I will not love You, because
there are hypocrites,” would not your own conscienceconvictyou of the
absurdity of your reasoning? Oughtnot your better judgment to whisper,
“Inasmuch, then, as so many are hypocrites, take heed that you are not. And
if there are so many pretenders who injure the Lord’s cause by their lying
pretensions, so much the more reasonwhy you should have the real thing and
help to make the Church sound and honest”?
But no. The merchants of our cities, the tradesmenof our streets, our artisans
and our workmen–the greatmass of them–live in total neglectof God. I do not
believe that the heart of England is infidel. I do not believe that there is any
vast extent of deism or atheism throughout England–the great fault of our
time is the fault of indifference–people do not care whether the thing is right
or not. What is it to them? They never take the trouble to searchbetweenthe
different professors ofreligion to see where the Truth lies. They do not think
to pay their reverence to God with all their hearts. Oh, no, they forget what
God demands and so rob Him of His due. To you, to you, greatmasses ofthe
population, this Law does speak with iron tongue–“Youshall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your souland with all your mind.”

There is a class ofmen who are a greatdeal nobler than the herd of
simpletons who allow the sublimities of the Godheadto be concealedby their
care for mere sensualgood. There are some who do not forgetthat there is a
God–no they are astronomers and they turn their eyes to Heaven and they
view the stars and they marvel at the majesty of the Creator. Or they dig into
the bowels ofthe earth and they are astonishedat the magnificence of God’s
works of yore. Or they examine the animal and marvel at the wisdom of God
in the constructionof its anatomy. They, whenever they think of God, think of
Him with the deepestawe, with the most profound reverence.
You never hear them curse or swear–youwill find that their souls are
possessedof a deep awe of the greatCreator. But ah, my Friends, this is not
enough–this is not obedience to the command. God does not say you shall
wonder at Him, you shall have awe of Him. He asks more than that. He says
“You shall love Me!” Oh, you that see the orbs of Heaven floating in the far
expanse, it is something to lift your eyes to Heaven and say–
“These are Your glorious works, Parentof good,
Almighty, Yours this universal frame.
Thus wondrous fair. Yourself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sits above these Heavens
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these Your lowestworks. Yetthese declare
Your goodness beyondthought and powerDivine.”
It is something thus to adore the greatCreatorbut ‘tis not all He asks. Oh, if
you could add to this–“He that made these orbs, that leads them out by their
hosts, is my Fatherand my heart beats with affectiontowards Him,” then
would you be obedient but not till then. God asks notyour admiration but
your affection. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
There are others, too, who delight to spend time in contemplation. They
believe in Jesus, in the Father, in the Spirit. They believe that there is but one
God and that these Three are One. It is their delight to turn over the pages of
Revelation, as wellas the pages of history. They contemplate God. He is to
them a matter of curious study. They like to meditate upon Him. The
doctrines of His Word they could hear all day long. And they are very sound
in the faith, extremely orthodox and very knowing. They can fight about
doctrines, they can dispute about the things of God with all their hearts.
But alas, their religion is like a dead fish–coldand stiff–and when you take it
into your hand you saythere is no life in it. Their souls were never stirred
with it. Their hearts were never thorough into it. They cancontemplate but

they cannot love. They can meditate but they cannotcommune. They can
think of God but they can never throw up their souls to Him and claspHim in
the arms of their affections. Ah, to you cold-blooded thinkers–to you, this text
speaks. Oh, you that can contemplate but cannotlove–“Youshall love the
Lord your God with all your heart.”
Another man starts up and he says, “Wellthis command does not bear on me.
I attend my place of worship twice every Sunday. I have family prayer. I am
very careful not to get up in the morning without saying a form of prayer. I
sometimes read my Bible. I subscribe to many charities.” Ah, my Friend and
you may do all that without loving God. Why, some of you go to your
Churches and Chapels as if you were going to be horsewhipped. It is a dull
and dreary thing to you. You dare not break the Sabbath but you would if you
could. You know very well that if it were not for a mere matter of fashion and
custom you would soonerby half be anywhere else than in God’s house.
And as for prayer, why it is no delight to you. You do it because you think you
ought to do it. Some indefinable sense ofduty rests upon you. But you have no
delight in it. You talk of Godwith great propriety but you never talk of Him
with love. Your heart never bounds at the mention of His name. Your eyes
never glisten at the thought of His attributes. Your soul never leaps when you
meditate on His works. Your heart is all untouched and while you are
honoring God with your lips your heart is far from Him and you are still
disobedient to this Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God.”
And now, my Hearers, do you understand this Commandment? Do I not see
many of you seeking to look for loopholes through which to escape?Do I not
think I see some of you striving to make a break in this Divine wall which
girds us all? You say, “I never do anything against God.” No, my Friend, that
is not it–it is not what you do not do–it is this, “Do you love Him?” “Well, Sir,
but I never violate any of the proprieties of religion.” No, that is not it. The
command is, “You shall love Him.” “Well, Sir, but I do a greatdeal for God. I
teachin a Sunday-Schooland so on.” Ah, I know, but do you love Him? It is
the heart He wants and He will not be contentwithout it. “You shall love the
Lord your God.” That is the Law and though no man cankeepit since
Adam’s Fall, yet the Law is as much binding upon every son of Adam this day
as when God first of all pronounced it. “You shall love the Lord your God.”
That brings us to the secondpoint–the measure of this Law. How much am I
to love God? Where shall I fix the point? I am to love my neighbor as I love
myself. Am I to love my God more than that? Yes, certainly. The measure is
even greater. We are not bound to love ourselves with all our mind and soul
and strength and therefore we are not bound to love our neighbor so. The

measure is a greaterone. We are bound to love God with all our heart, soul,
mind and strength.
And we deduce from that, first, that we are to love God supremely. You are to
love your wife, O husband. You can not love her too much exceptin one case,
if you should love her before God and prefer her pleasure to the pleasure of
the MostHigh. Then would you be an idolater. Child, you are to love your
parents. You cannot love him too much who begat you, nor her too much who
brought you forth. But remember, there is one Law that does override that.
You are to love your Godmore than your father or your mother. He demands
your first and your highestaffection–youare to “love Him with all your
heart.”
We are allowedto love our relatives–weare taught to do so. He that does not
love his own family is worse than a heathen man and a publican. But we are
not to love the dearestobjectof our hearts so much as we love God. You may
erectlittle thrones for those whom you rightly love. But God’s Throne must
be a glorious high Throne. You may setthem upon the steps but God must sit
on the very seatitself. He is to be enthroned, the royal One within your heart,
the king of your affections. Say, sayHearer, have you kept this
Commandment? I know I have not. I must plead guilty before God. I must
castmyself before Him and acknowledgemy transgression. Butnevertheless,
there stands the Commandment–“You shall love God with all your heart”–
that is, you shall love him supremely.
Note, again–fromthe text we may deduce that a man is bound to love God
heartily–that is plain enough, for it says, “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart.” Yes, there is to be in our love to God a heartiness. We are
to throw our whole selves into the love that we give to Him. Not the kind of
love that some people give to their fellows, when they say, “Be you warmed
and filled,” and nothing more. No–ourheart is to have its whole being
absorbedinto God, so that God is the hearty objectof its pursuit and its most
mighty love. See how the word “all” is repeatedagainand again. The whole
going forth of the being, the whole stirring up of the soul is to be for God and
for Godonly. “With all your heart.”
Again–as we are to love God heartily, we are to love Him with all our souls.
Then we are to love Him with all our life. For that is the meaning of it. If we
are calledto die for God, we are to prefer God before our ownlife. We shall
never reach the fullness of this Commandment till we getas far as the
martyrs, who rather than disobey God would be castinto the furnace, or
devoured by wild beasts. We must be ready to give up house, home, liberty,
friends, comfort, joy and life, at the command of God, or else we have not

carried out this Commandment, “You shall love Him with all your heart and
with all your life.”
And, next we are to love Godwith all our mind. That is, the intellect is to love
God. Now many men believe in the existence of a God but they do not love
that belief. They know there is a God but they greatly wish there were none.
Some of you today would be very pleased–youwould setthe bells a-ringing–if
you believed there were no God. Why, if there were no God then you might
live just as you liked. If there were no God then you might run riot and have
no fear of future consequences.It would be to you the greatestjoythat could
be–if you heard that the eternalGod had ceasedto be.
But the Christian never wishes any such a thing as that. The thought that
there is a God is the sunshine of his existence. His intellect bows before the
MostHigh. Not like a slave who bends his body because he must–but like the
angelwho prostrates himself because he loves to adore his Maker. His intellect
is as fond of God as his imagination. “Oh,” he says, “My God, I bless You that
You are, for You are my highesttreasure, my richestand my rarestdelight. I
love You with all my intellect. I have neither thought, nor judgment, nor
conviction, nor reasonwhich I do not lay at Your feet and consecrateto Your
honor.
And once again, this love to God is to be characterizedby activity. Forwe are
to love Him with all our heart, heartily–with all our soul, that is, to the laying
down of our life–with all our mind, that is mentally. And we are to love Him
with all our strength, that is, actively. I am to throw my whole soul into the
worship and adorationof God. I am not to keepback a single hour, or a single
farthing of my wealth, or a single talent that I have, or a single atom of
strength, bodily or mental from the worship of God. I am to love Him with all
my strength.
Now what man ever kept this Commandment? Surely none. And no man ever
can keepit. Hence, then, the necessityofa Savior. Oh, that we might, by this
Commandment, be smitten to the earth–thatour self-righteousnessmay be
broken in pieces by this great hammer of “the first and great
Commandment!” But oh, my Brethren, how may we wish that we could keep
it! For, could we keepthis command intact, unbroken, it would be a Heaven
below. The happiest of creatures are those that are the most holy and that
unreservedly love God.
And now, very briefly, I have just to state God’s claim upon which He bases
this Commandment. “You shall love Him with all your heart, soul, mind,

strength.” Why? First, because He is the Lord–that is, Jehovah. And secondly
because he is your God.
Man, the creature of a day, you ought to love Jehovahfor what He is. Behold,
Him whom you can not behold! Lift up your eyes to the seventh Heaven. See
where in dreadful majesty the brightness of His garments makes the angels
veil their faces, lestthe light, too strong for even them, should smite them with
eternal blindness. See Him who stretched the Heavens like a tent to dwell in
and then did weave into their tapestry, with golden needle, stars that glitter in
the darkness. Mark Him who spreadthe earth and createdman upon it. And
hear what He is. He is all-sufficient, eternal, self-existent, unchangeable,
omnipotent, omniscient! Will you not reverence Him? He is good, He is loving,
He is kind, He is gracious. See the bounties of His Providence. Beholdthe
plenitude of His grace!Will you not love Jehovah, because He is Jehovah?
But you are most of all bound to love him because He is your God. He is your
God by creation. He made you. You did not make yourself. God, the
Almighty, though He might use instruments, was nevertheless the sole creator
of man. Though He is pleasedto bring us into the world by the agencyof our
progenitors, yet is He as much our Creatoras He was the Creatorof Adam
when He formed him of clay and made him man. Look at this marvelous body
of yours. See how God has put the bones togetherso as to be of the greatest
service and use to you. See how He has arranged your nerves and blood
vessels. Mark the marvelous machinery which He has employed to keepyou in
life! O thing of an hour! Will you not love Him that made you? Is it possible
that you canthink of Him who formed you in His hand and molded you by
His will and yet will you not love Him who has fashioned you?
Again, consider, he is your God, for He preserves you. Your table is spread
but He spread it for you. The air that you breathe is a gift of His charity. The
clothes that you have on your back are gifts of His love. Your life depends on
Him. One wish of His infinite will would have brought you to the grave and
given your body to the worms. And at this moment, though you are strong
and hearty, your life is absolutelydependent upon Him. You may die where
you are–youare out of Hell only as the result of His goodness.You would be
at this hour sweltering in flames unquenchable had not His sovereignlove
preservedyou. Traitor though you may be to Him, an enemy to His Cross and
cause, yetHe is your God, so far as this, for He made you and He keeps you
alive.
Surely, you may wonder that He should keepyou alive when you refuse to
love Him. Man, you would not keepa horse that did not work for you. Would
you keepa servant in your house who insulted you? Would you spread bread

upon his table and find livery for his back, if insteadof doing your will and
goodpleasure he would be his own masterand would run counter to you?
Certainly you would not. And yet here is God feeding you and you are
rebelling againstHim. Swearer, the lips with which you cursedyour Maker
are sustainedby Him. The very lungs that you employ in blasphemy are
inspired by Him with the breath of life, else you had ceasedto be. Oh, strange
that you should eat God’s bread and then lift up your heel againstHim!
Oh, amazing that you should sit at the table of His Providence and be clothed
in the livery of His bounty and yet that you should turn round and spit against
high Heaven and lift the puny hand of your rebellion againstthe God that
made you and that preserves you. Oh, if insteadof our God we had one like
unto ourselves to dealwith, my Brethren, we should not have patience with
our fellow creatures for an hour. I marvel at God’s long-suffering towards
men. I see the foul-mouthed blasphemer curse his God. O God, how can You
endure it? Why do You not smite him to the ground?
If a gnat should torment me, should I not in one moment crush it? And what
is man compared with his Maker? Notone half so great as an ant compared
with man. Oh my Brethren, we may well be astonishedthat God has mercy
upon us, after all our violations of this high command. But I stand here today
His servantand for myself and for you I claim for God, because He is God,
because He is our God and our Creator–Iclaimthe love of all hearts, I claim
the obedience ofall souls and of all minds and the consecrationof all our
strength.
O people of God, I need not speak to you. You know that God is your God in a
specialsense. Thereforeyou ought to love Him with a speciallove.
II. This is what the Commandment says to us. I shall be very short, indeed,
upon the secondhead, which is, WHAT HAVE WE TO SAY TO IT?
What have you to say to this command, O man? Have I one here so
profoundly brainless as to reply, “I intend to keepit and I believe I can
perfectly obey it and I think I can getto Heavenby obedience to it”? Man, you
are either a fool, or else willfully ignorant. For surely, if you do understand
this Commandment, you will at once hang down your hands and say,
“Obedience to that is quite impossible. Thoroughand perfect obedience to
that no man can hope to reach!” Some of you think you will go to Heaven by
your goodworks, do you? This is the first stone that you are to step upon–I
am sure it is too high for your reach.
You might as welltry to climb to Heavenby the mountains of earth and take
the Himalayas to be your first step. For surely when you had stepped from the

ground to the summit of Chimborazo you might even then despair of ever
stepping to the height of this greatCommandment. For to obey this must ever
be an impossibility. But remember, you cannotbe saved by your works if you
cannot obey this entirely, perfectly, constantly, forever.
“Well,” says one, “I dare sayif I try and obey it as well as I can, that will do.”
No, Sir, it will not. God demands that you perfectly obey this and if you do not
perfectly obey it He will condemn you. “Oh,” cries one, “who then, can be
saved?” Ah, that is the point to which I wish to bring you. Who then can be
savedby this Law? Why, no one in the world! Salvationby the works of the
Law is proved to be a clean impossibility. None of you therefore will sayyou
will try to obey it and so hope to be saved. I hear the best Christian in the
world groan out his thoughts–“O God,” says he, “I am guilty. And should you
castme into Hell I dare not say otherwise. I have broken this command from
my youth up, even since my conversion. I have violated it every day.
“I know that if You should lay justice to the line and righteousness to the
plummet, I must be swept awayforever. Lord, I renounce my trust in the
Law. Forby it I know I can never see Your face and be accepted.” Buthark, I
hear the Christian say anotherthing. “Oh,” says he to the Commandment,
“Commandment I cannot keepyou but my Savior kept you and what my
Savior did, He did for all them that believe. And now, O Law, what Jesus did
is mine. Have you any question to bring againstme? You demand that I
should keepthis Commandment wholly–lo, my Savior kept it wholly for me
and He is my Substitute.
“What I cannotdo myself my Saviorhas done for me. You cannot reject the
work of the Substitute, for God acceptedit in the day when He raised Him
from the dead. O Law, shut your mouth forever! You cannever condemn me!
Though I break you a thousand times, I put my simple trust in Jesus and in
Jesus only. His righteousness is mine and with it I pay the debt and satisfy
your hungry mouth.”
“Oh,” cries one, “I wish I could saythat I could thus escape the wrath of the
Law! Oh that I knew that Christ did keepthe Law for me!” Stop, then and I
will tell you. Do you feel today that you are guilty, lost and ruined? Do you
with tears in your eyes confess that none but Jesus cando you good? Are you
willing to give up all trusts and castyourselfalone on Him who died upon the
Cross? Canyou look to Calvary and see the bleeding Sufferer, all crimson
with streams of gore? Canyou say–
“A guilty, weak and helpless worm,
Into Your arms I fall.

Jesus be You my righteousness,
My Saviorand my All”?
Can you saythat? Then He kept the Law for you and the Law cannot
condemn whom Christ has absolved. If Law comes to you and says, “I will
damn you because you did not keepthe Law,” tell him that he dares not touch
a hair of your head. For though you did not keepit, Christ keptit for you and
Christ’s righteousness is yours. Tellhim there is the money and though you
did not coin it Christ did. And tell him when you have paid him all he asks for,
he dares not touch you. You must be free, for Christ has satisfiedthe Law.
And after that–and here I conclude–O child of GodI know what you will say.
After you have seenthe Law satisfiedby Jesus you will fall on your knees and
say, “Lord, I thank You that this Law cannot condemn me, for I believe in
Jesus. But now, Lord, help me from this time forth forever to keepit. Lord,
give me a new heart, for this old heart never will love You! Lord, give me a
new life, for this old life is too vile. Lord, give me a new understanding–wash
my mind with the cleanwater of the Spirit. Come and dwell in my judgment,
my memory, my thought. And then give me the new strength of Your Spirit
and I will, by Your grace, love You with all my new heart, with all my new
life, with all my renewedmind and with all my spiritual strength, from this
time forth, even forever.”
May the Lord convictyou of sin, by the energy of His Divine Spirit and bless
this simple sermon, for Jesus'sake!Amen. Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon
Collection, Version1.0, Ages Software, 1.800.297.4307
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Mark 12:28-34
A.F. Muir
I. True RELIGIOUS INQUIRY IS ENCOURAGED BYCANDOUR AND
SPIRITUAL INSIGHT ON THE PART OF RELIGIOUS TEACHERS.
Matthew tells us that the Pharisees came togethertop the same place." when
they saw the disscomfiture of the Sadducees;and "then one of them, a lawyer,
askedhim a question, tempting him, and saying." Mark introduces him as one
of the scribes. In the one Gospelthe motive and encouragementare

representedas experiencedby the Pharisaic party in general;in the other they
are representedas individually felt and acted upon. There were, therefore,
elements of earnestness andspirituality amongstthe Pharisees, and these were
calledforth by our Saviours teaching. They were now in a more favorable
attitude for receiving the truth than they had ever been before. As to the idea
expressedby "tempting," it need not be understood in a sinister sense, but
generallyas proving, testing, etc. Our Lord did not crush the spirit of inquiry,
but courted it. They felt that there was more in him than they could explain,
and that his knowledge ofScripture was spiritual and profound, and therefore
they wished to discoverwhat he could possibly have to tell them that was not
already taught by Moses orhis prophetic exponents. He had all but converted
his enemies and critics into his disciples. He had infected them with his own
spirit of religious earnestness. Ofthis mood the "lawyer" was the mouthpiece.
He pushes inquiry to its highestpoint, and desires to know the chief duties of
religion.
II. THE BEST MODE OF ANSWERING SUCHINQUIRY IS THAT
WHICH PRESENTS THE SPIRIT AND SUBSTANCE OF DUTY, OR
TRUE RELIGION IN ITS UNITY AND UNIVERSALITY. "Deuteronomy
6:4. This is not given as a part of the Law of Moses, but as the principle of all
service. Leviticus 19:18 contains a similar principle for all socialduties"
(Godwin). Passing overall matters of mere ceremonial, and questions of less
or more, he lays hold of the spirit of the Law and presents it to his inquirer. It
is out of the very heart of the hook of ceremonies (Leviticus)that the duty to
neighbors is extracted. He declares "the three unities of religion:
(1) the one God;
(2) the one faith;
(3) the one commandment" (Lunge);
and compels the agreementand admiration of his questioner. "Note also the
real reverence shownin the form of address, 'Master,'i.e. 'Teacher, Rabbi.'
He recognizedthe speakeras one of his own order" (Plumptre). All religion is
summed up by him in a "greatcommandment," viz. the love of God, and that
is shown in its earthward aspectto involve loving our neighbor as ourselves.
That true religion is not ceremonialbut spiritual is thus demonstrated; and in
quoting the highest utterances of the prophets, the scribe but endorses and
restates the same doctrine. Teacherand inquirer are therefore theoretically
one. But more is needed; and towards the attainment of this the stimulus is
given, "Thouart not far from the kingdom of God. This meant that -

III. SUCH INQUIRY CAN ONLY BE SATISFIED AND CROWNED BY
ACTING UPON ITS HIGHEST SPIRITUAL CONVICTIONS.The words
are significantas showing the unity of our Lord's teaching. Now, as when he
spoke the sermon on the mount, the righteousness whichfulfils the Law is the
condition of the entrance into the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:19, 20). Even
the recognitionof that righteousnessas consisting in the fulfillment of the two
commandments that were exceeding broad, brought a man as to the very
threshold of the kingdom. It is instructive to compare our Lord's different
method of dealing, in Luke 10:25-37, with one who had the same theoretical
knowledge, but who obviously, consciouslyorunconsciously, minimized the
force of the commandments by his narrowing definitions" (Plumptre). "The
kingdom of heaven is, for the moment, pictorially representedas localized,
like the ordinary kingdoms of the world. The scribe, walking in the way of
conscientious inquiry, and thus making religious pilgrimage, had nearly
reachedits borderland. He was bordering on the greatreality of true religion,
subjection of spirit to the sovereignwill of God" (Morison). This state can
only be attained to by conversion, the identification of the sinner through faith
with the righteousnessofthe Savior, and the indwelling of the Spirit of God. It
is thus scientific conviction becomes moral, and we are able to carry into
effectwhat we know to be true and right. - M.
Biblical Illustrator
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.
Mark 12:30
Love to God secures allblessings"Love notpleasure," says Carlyle;"love
God. This the Everlasting Yea wherein all contradiction is solved; wherein he
who so walks and works, it is wellwith him."
Love to God contrastedwith not loving Him
Bishop Simpson.Mannot loving God, not looking upward and outward,
becomes sensual. He spends his time in feeding his body, in satisfying his
appetites, in grovelling in the dust, in joining himself to earth, that God made
simply for his footstooland his path. way, and he forgets the realm of empire
over nature, and over ideas, and over thoughts, that God opens out before
him; and hence, without love of God, man is the animal; with love to God, he
is the seraph; without love to God, he lives for his appetites and is debased;

with love to God, he lives in His affections and rises toward glory; without
love to God, he crawls like the worm; with love to God, be Soars like the
seraph, flames like the cherubs; without love to God, he goes downWard until
he is ready to make his bed with demons; with love to God, he rises above
angels and archangels, andis preparing for the throne of God.
(Bishop Simpson.)
Love to God the supreme feeling
Thomas Brooks.Aman may be weary of life, but never of Divine love.
Histories tell us of many that have been wearyof their lives, but no histories
can furnish us with an instance of any one that was everweary of Divine love.
As the people prized David above themselves, saying, "Thouart worth ten
thousand of us;" so they that indeed have God for their portion, oh, how do
they prize God above themselves, and above everything below themselves l
and, doubtless, they that do not lift up God above all, they have no interest in
God at all.
(Thomas Brooks.)
The greatcommandmentWhen Tom Paine, the man who did so much
mischief years ago in spreading infidel opinions, and making our Bible a
laughing stock, residedin New Jersey, he was one day passing the house of Dr.
Staughton, when the Doctorwas sitting at the door. Paine stopped, and after
some remarks of a generalcharacterobserved, "Mr. Staughton, what a pity it
is that a man has not some comprehensive and perfect rule for the
government of his life." The Doctorreplied, "Mr. Paine, there is such a rule."
"What is that?" Paine inquired. Dr. Staughtonrepeatedthe passage, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself."
Abashed and confounded, Paine replied, "Oh, that's in your Bible," and
immediately walkedaway. The greatcommandment from which the infidel
turned away, is the rule which Christians accept, love, and try to obey.
The nature of our love to Christ
C. H. Spurgeon.I.Itmust be sincere, with all the heart.
II.Intelligent, with all the mind.
III.Emotional, with all the soul.
IV.Intense and energetic, with all the strength.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The two greatcommandments: all true love is one

Hamilton.The first commandment is very great, but the secondis not little.
They are upper and nether pools, and the same fountain fills them. He who is
richest in the love of God has the greatestadvantagefor loving his neighbour
— for loving his family, his household, his country, and the world. And that is
the bestand happiest state of things, the primal and truly natural, where,
springing from under the throne of God, with a bright and heaven-reflecting
piety, love fills the upper pool, and then, through the open flower-fringed
channel of filial affectionand the domestic charities, flows softly till it again
expands in neighbourly kindness and unreserved philanthropy. The channel
may be choked. The devotee may close it up in the hope of raising the level in
the first and greatreservoir, and by arresting the current he causes an
overflow and converts into swamp the surrounding garden. In the same way
the materialistor worldling, content with the lowerpool, may. fill up the
conduit, and declare that he is no longerdependent on the upper magazine;
but from the isolatedcistern quickly evaporates the scantysupply, and thick
with slime, weltering with worms, the stagnantresidue mocks the thirsty
owner, or, as over the bubbling malaria he persists to linger, it fills his frame
with the mortal poison. Cut off from living water, receiving from on high no
consecrating element, human affectionis too sure to end in the disgust of a
disappointed idolatry or the mad despair of a total bereavement; whilst the
mystic theopathy, which in order to give the whole heart to God gives none to
its fellows, will soonhave no heart at all. Love is of God, and all true love is
one. The piety which is not humane will soongrow superstitious and gloomy;
in cases like Dominic and Philip II we see that it may soongrow bloodthirsty
and cruel; nor, on the other hand, will brotherly love long continue if the love
of God is not shed abroad abundantly.
(Hamilton.)
Supreme love to God impossible without a Saviour
Christian Age.The Rev. M. Jeanmarie, a widely known French Protestant
pastor, has recently passedaway. The story of his conversionappears in the
continental journals, and is a fine example of the power of the Word of God.
He was at the time a preceptorin a family of the House of Hohenlohe and a
rationalist. A neighbouring preacheraskedhim to supply for him. He declined
on the plea of "How could he preach what he did not believe?" "What! not
believe in God?" "Yes, I do that." "And surely you believe that man should
love Him?" "Doubtless." "Well, then, preach on the words of Jesus, 'Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mind, and strength.'" "I
will try, just to oblige you." He thought over the words, and took note: —
1. We must love God, and the reasons thereof.

2. We must love Him with all our powers in very deed; nothing short of this
could satisfy God.
3. But do we thus love God?... "No!" and then said he, "Without any
previously formed plan I was brought to add, 'We need a Saviour.'At that
moment a new light broke upon my soul; I understood that I had not loved
God, that I needed a Saviour, that Jesus was that Saviour: and I loved Him
and clung to Him at once. On the morrow I preachedthe sermon, and the
third head was the chief — viz., the need of Jesus, andthe necessityoftrusting
to such a Saviour."
(Christian Age.)
The properties of love
G. Petter.Because many deceive themselves in thinking that they love God,
when they do not, it is needful to setdown the marks of the true love of God,
by which we may ascertainwhetherit be in us or not. The principal are these:
1. A deliberate preferring and esteeming ofGod above all things in the world,
though never so excellentor dear to us.
2. A desire to be united and joined to God in most near communion with Him,
both in this life and the next.
3. A high estimationof the specialtokens and pledges of God's love to us —
the Bible, Sacraments, etc.
4. A conscientious care to obeyGod's will, and to serve and honour Him in
our calling.
5. Joyand delight in the duties of God's service and worship.
6. Zeal for God's glory, causing in us a holy grief and indignation when we see
or hear that God is dishonoured by sin.
7. Love is bountiful, making us willing and ready to give and bestow much
upon the personwe love.
8. True love to the saints and children of God.
(G. Petter.)
Love to God and men
A. H. Currier.Man's life, rightly ordered, revolves, like the earth upon which
he dwells, upon an axis with two fixed poles. Thataxis is love, and the poles
are God and man. The love thus defined and exercisedfulfils the whole law. It
embraces in its scope all of man's duties, religious and moral. Consider —
I. THE NATURE OF THIS LOVE.

1. An affectionof the soul.
2. An all-inclusive affection, embracing not only every other affectionproper
to its object, but all that is proper to be done to its object.
3. The most personalof all affections. One may fear an event, hope for and
rejoice in it; but one can love only a person.
4. The tenderest, most unselfish, most divine of all affections. Suchis that axial
principle, on which man's life, when obedient to God, revolves. It reminds us
of that greatdiscovery of the age, which has tracedthe various powers of
nature — light, heat, electricity, etc. — back to one greatoriginal force, from
which they all spring and into which they are convertible. Like the mythic
Proteus, that force changes its form according to the exigencyof the time, now
appearing as heat, then as light, then as magnetism, then as motion — so this
love, which is the fulfilment of the law, is at the basis of all acts of piety and of
all forms of virtue (1 Corinthians 13).
II. THE OBJECT OF THIS LOVE.
1. God is the first and supreme object.
2. True love of God begets love to man. The latter, resulting from the former,
must needs occupy a subordinate position. The fountain is higher than the
stream, and includes it.
III. THE DEGREE IN WHICH THIS LOVE TO GOD SHOULD BE
EXERCISED. Itshould not be a languid affection, but one in which all the
powers of man's nature are engaged. The various parts of our complex being
are summoned to contribute their utmost force to the formation of it.
1. With the heart: perfectly hearty and sincere.
2. With the soul: ardent — full of warmth and feeling.
3. With the mind: intelligent. God does not want fanaticaldevotion.
4. With the strength: energetic and intense.In a word, our love to God is to be
of the most earnest, real, and vital sort; one into which we are to put the whole
of our being, as a plant puts into its flower the united forces of rootand leaf
and stem.
IV. THIS LOVE IS POSSIBLE ONLY THROUGH CHRIST. He reveals to us
the almighty, incomprehensible Creator, who would otherwise be to us a mere
abstraction.
V. FALSE AND TRUE MANIFESTATIONS OF THIS LOVE.

1. Take care notto let it become a matter more of outward form than of
inward reality.
2. The real proof of love is its willingness to make sacrifices forthe sake ofits
object.
(A. H. Currier.)
The mind's love
Isaac Williams, M. A.The love of God fills the mind, when knowledge
gatherethall things with reference to God; when speculationever weigheth
the things of God with the things of men; when imagination compareth all
things with the things of God; when memory storeth in her treasure things of
God, new and old; when the thoughts ever turn to God, as their end; when all
studies are in God, and there is no study which hath not God for its end. We
are always thinking of something, at all times, and in all places;we can behold
no object in the earth or sky, but thought is busy with the same. The thoughts
are according to the heart. If one might say it with reverence, as angelic
ministrations execute God's will, so are the thoughts to the heart and soul of
man ever busy traversing and returning, through earth and heaven, as the
heart wills. And these, in the goodman, are ever full of God.
(Isaac Williams, M. A.)
Love
Anon.Observe that love is not merely one way of fulfilling the Law. It is the
best way. Far better to love man so much that to stealfrom him would be
impossible, than merely to refrain from stealing in obedience to the Eighth
Commandment. Nay, more, it is the only way. One who would steal, but for
his sense ofits being forbidden, and therefore wrong, already sins againsthis
neighbour by breaking the Tenth Commandment.
1. Love brings all the powers of man's soulinto interior harmony.
2. It begets obedience, bothinward and outward.
3. It begets a strong desire after God.
4. It finds God in everything.
5. It is the mainspring of the soul, controlling hands, feet, eyes, lips, brain, life.
(Anon.)
Love is the most important thing
JosephJowett, M. A."Father," askedthe son of Bishop Berkeley, "whatis the
meaning of the words 'cherubim' and 'seraphim,' which we meet with in the

Bible?" "Cherubim," replied his father, "is a Hebrew word signifying
knowledge;seraphim is another word of the same language, signifying flame.
Whence it is supposed that the cherubim are angels who excelin knowledge;
and that the seraphim are angels likewise who excelin loving God." "I hope,
then," said the little boy, "whenI die I shall be a seraph, for I would rather
love God than know all things." The first and greatcommandment: —
I. WHETHER WE ARE POSSESSED OF THIS SUPREME LOVE TO
GOD? A sincere love manifests itself by approbation, preference, delight,
familiarity. Do these terms express the state of our affections towards our
heavenly Father?
1. Do we cordially approve all that the Scriptures reveal concerning His
characterand His dealings with men?
2. Approbation, however, is the very lowesttokenof this Divine affection.
What we really love we distinguish by a decidedpreference:we have
compared it with other things, and have come to the conclusionthat it is more
excellentthan all of them.
3. Further, the love of God will leadus to delight in Him.
4. I will mention but one more sign of love unfeigned; which is seenwhen a
person courts the societyand familiar intimacy of the objectof his affections.
II. BY WHAT MEANS A SPIRIT OF LOVE TO GOD MAY BE
ACQUIRED, IF WE HAVE IT NOT, OR INCREASED,IF WE HAVE.
1. The first step is to feelour utter deficiencyin this duty.
2. Take up your Bible, and learn the characterofHim whom you have so
neglected.
3. These views ofthe love of God, however, will, in greatmeasure, be
ineffectual, till you have actually castyourselfat the foot of the cross, and
believed in Jesus Christ for the justification of your own soul.
4. My next direction for cherishing this spirit of love to God is, that you should
carefully guard againsteverything in your temper and conduct which might
grieve the Spirit of God.
5. I would press upon you the necessityof frequent communion with your
reconciledGod in prayer and thanksgiving.
(JosephJowett, M. A.)
Love to God

H. Kollock, D. D.I. A TRUE LOVE TO GOD HAS THREE PRINCIPAL
CONSTITUENT PARTS.
1. The love of desire, which takes its origin from the wants of man, and the
fitness and willingness of God to supply them.
2. The love of gratitude, arising from the sense ofthe Divine goodness to us.
3. A disinterestedlove, having as its foundation the excellence and perfection
of God consideredin themselves, and without any reference to the advantages
we derive from them.
II. THE MEASURE OF DIVINE LOVE.
1. That we must love God supremely above any other object.
2. With all the ardour and intensity of our soul.
(H. Kollock, D. D.)
The life of Christian consecration
H. W. Beecher.I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS LOVE. The whole man must
be enlisted in our love of God; all the force of our life must go to express and
to fulfil it.
1. God claims from us a warm personalaffection.
2. God must be loved for His moral excellence.Notonly must our conscience
approve our affection;it will be ever supplying us with new material for
exalted worship of Him. The sense of righteousness willkindle gratitude into
adoration.
3. God claims from us an intelligent affection. Our intelligence must have full
scope, if our love of God is to be full.
4. God claims from us that we love with all our strength. The whole force of
our characteris to be in our affectionfor Him. Men devote their energies to
worldly pursuits.
II. THE UNITY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE IN THIS LOVE. The command of our
text is introduced by a solemn proclamation, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord." The objectof Moses in declaring the unity of God was to
guard the Jews againstidolatry; my objectin dwelling on it is to claim from
you the consecrationofall your powers. A simple illustration will make both
these points clear. Polygamyis contrary to the true idea of marriage;he who
has many wives cannot love one of them as a wife should be loved. Equally is
the ideal of marriage violated if a man cannot or will not render to his wife the
homage of his whole nature. His affectionitself will be partial instead of full,

and his heart will be distracted, if, whateverher amiability may be, her
conduct offends his moral sensibilities;if he cannot trust her judgment and
accepther counsel;if she is a hindrance to him and not a help in the practical
business of life. Many a man's spiritual life is distracted and made inefficient,
simply because his whole being is not engrossedin his religion; one-sidedness
in devotion is sure to weaken, and tends ultimately to destroy it. Considerthe
infinite worthiness of God. He is the source and objectof all our powers.
There is not a faculty which has not come from Him; which is not purified and
exalted by consecrationto Him. And as all our powers make up one man —
reasonand emotion, conscienceandwill uniting in a complete human life —
so, for spiritual harmony and religious satisfaction, there must be the full
consecrationand discipline of all our powers. Again and again is this truth set
before us in the Bible. The blind and the lame were forbidden for sacrifice;
the maimed and imperfect were banished from the congregationofthe Lord.
The whole man is redeemed by Christ — body, soul, and spirit, all are to be
presenteda living sacrifice. The gospelis intended, not to repress our powers,
nor to seta man at strife with himself, but to develop and enlarge the whole
sphere of life; and he wrongs the Author of the gospel, and mars his own
spiritual perfection, who allows any faculty to lie by disused in God's service.
Look at the same truth in anotheraspect;considerhow our powers aid one
another in gaining a true apprehensionof God. The sensibilities of love give us
insight into His character, and furnish us with motives for active service of
Him. On the other hand, intelligent esteemof God expands affectionfor Him,
and preserves it strong when mere emotion will have died away. Obedience is
at once the organof spiritual knowledge, and the minister of an increasing
faith. "Theythat know Thy name," says the Psalmist, "will put their trust in
Thee."
III. THE GROUNDS AND IMPULSES OF THIS LOVE. In reality it has but
one reason— God is worthy of it; and the impulse to render it comes directly
from our perceptionof His worthiness and the know, ledge that He desires it
from us. The claim for love, like all the Divine claims, is grounded in the
characterof God Himself; and it takes the form of commandment here
because the Jews were "under the law." There are, however, two thoughts
suggestedby the two titles given by Moses to God, which will help us in
further illustration of our subject.(1)MosesspeaksofGod as Jehovah, the
self-existent, self-sufficing One. God is the source and author of all, wherever
found, that awakenslove in man. When once the idea of God has taken full
possessionofthe soul, there is not a perfectionwhich we do not attribute in
infinite measure to Him.(2) Moses calls Jehovah"the Lord our God,"

reminding His people that God had singled them out from all the nations of
the earth, that they were "precious in His sight and honourable;" and that all
they knew of His excellence andgoodness hadcome to them through their
perception of what He had done for them. "We love Him, because He first
loved us;" this is the Christian reading of the thought of Hoses.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Of loving God
Samuel Clarke, D. D.I. THE DUTY ENJOINED is, "Thoushalt love the Lord
thy God." A true love of God must be founded upon a right sense of His
perfections being really amiable in themselves, and beneficialto us: and such
a love of God will of necessity show forth itself in our endeavouring to practise
the same virtues ourselves, and exercise them towards others. All perfectionis
in itself lovely and amiable in the very nature of the thing: the virtues and
excellenciesofmen remote in history, from whom we can receive no personal
advantage, excite in us an esteemwhetherwe will or no: and every goodmind,
when it reads or thinks upon the characterof an angel, loves the idea, though
it has no present communication with the subjectto whom so lovely a
characterbelongs:much more the inexhaustible Fountain of all perfections;
of perfections without number and without limit; the Centre, in which all
excellenciesunite, in which all glory resides, and from which every goodthing
proceeds, cannotbut be the supreme object of love to a reasonable and
intelligent mind. Even supposing we ourselves receivedno benefit therefrom,
yet infinite power, knowledge, and wisdomin conjunction, are lovely in the
very idea, and amiable even in the abstractimagination. But that which
makes these perfections most truly and substantially, most really and
permanently, the objectof our love, is the application of them to ourselves,
and our own more immediate concerns, by the considerationof their being
joined also with those relative and moral excellencies,whichmake them at the
same time no less beneficial to us than they are excellentabsolutelyin their
own nature. I say, then is it that God truly appears the complete object of
love, for so our Saviour Himself teaches us to argue (Luke 7:47) — To whom
much is forgiven, he will love the more; and the apostle St. John (1 John 4:19)
— "We," says he, "love Him, because He first loved us." This, therefore, is
the true ground and foundation of our love towards God. But wherein this
love towards God consists, andby what acts it is most properly exercised, has
sometimes been very much misunderstood. It always signifies a moral virtue,
not a passionor affection; and is therefore in Scripture always with greatcare
explained and declaredto mean the obedience of a virtuous life, in opposition
to the enthusiasm of a vain imagination. In the Old Testament, Moses,in his

last exhortation to the Israelites, thus expresses it (Deuteronomy 10:12):"And
now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord
thy God, and to love Him?" And what is loving Him? Why, He tells them in
the very next words, 'tis, "To walk in all His ways, and to serve the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keepthe commandments of
the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good." And
again(2 John 6), "This," says he, "is love, that we walk after His
commandments." For what is rational love but a desire to please the person
beloved, and a complacencyor satisfactionin pleasing him? To love God,
therefore, is to have a sincere desire of obeying His laws, and a delight or
pleasure in the conscienceofthat obedience. Evento an earthly superior, to a
parent, or a prince, love canno otherwise be shown from a child or a servant
than by cheerfully observing the laws, and promoting the true interestof the
government he is under. Now from this accountwhich has been given of the
true nature of love towards God, it will be easyfor us to correctthe errors
which men have sometimes fallen into in both extremes. Some have been very
confident of their love towards God from a mere warmth of superstitious zeal
and enthusiastic affection, without any greatcare to bring forth in their lives
the fruits of righteousness andtrue holiness. On the contrary, others there
are, who though they really love and fearand serve God in the course of a
virtuous and religious life, yet, because they feel not in themselves that
warmth of affectionwhich many enthusiasts pretend to, therefore they are
afraid and suspectthat they do not love Godsincerely as they ought.
II. Having thus at large explained the duty enjoined in the text, "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God," I proceednow in the secondplace to considerbriefly
THE CIRCUMSTANCESREQUISITE TO MAKE THE PERFORMANCE
OF THIS DUTY ACCEPTABLE AND COMPLETE:"Thoushalt love Him
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." In St. Luke it
is somewhatmore distinctly: "With all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind."
1. It must be sincere:we must love or obey Him with all our heart. 'Tis not the
external act only, but the inward affectionof the mind principally that God
regards, an affectionof mind which influences all a man's actions in secretas
well as in public, which determines the person's true characteror
denomination, and distinguishes him who really is a servantof God from him
who only seems orappears to be so.
2. Our obedience must be universal: we must love God with all our soul, or
with our whole soul. He does not love God in the Scripture sense who obeys
Him in some instances only and not in all. The Psalmistplaces his confidence

in this only, that he "had respectunto all God's commandments" (Psalm
119:6). Generally speaking, mostmen's temptation lies principally in some
one particular instance, and this is the proper trial of the person's obedience,
or of his love towards God.
3. Our obedience must be constantand persevering in time as well as
universal in its extent; we must love God with all our strength, persevering in
our duty without fainting. "He that endureth to the end," saith our Saviour,
"the same shall be saved;" and "he that overcomethshall inherit all things;"
and "we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfastunto the end." The Scripture notion of obedience is,
walking "in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life"
(Luke 1:75).
4. Our obedience to God ought to be willing and cheerful: we must love Him
with all our mind. "Theythat love Thy name will be joyful in Thee" (Psalm
5:12): and St. Paul, among the fruits of the Spirit, reckons up peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost. But virtue becomes more perfect when 'tis made easyby love,
and by habitual practice incorporated as it were into a man's very nature and
temper.
III. The last thing observable in the text is THE WEIGHT AND
IMPORTANCE OF THE DUTY: it is the "first and greatcommandment."
The reasonis, because 'tis the foundation of all; and without regardto God
,there canbe no religion.
(Samuel Clarke, D. D.)
On the love of God
J. Seed, D. D.It is the improved ability of the head that forms the philosopher,
but 'tis the right disposition of the heart that chiefly makes the Christian. 'Tis
our love directed to that Being, who is most worthy of it, as the Centre in
which all excellenciesunite, and the Source from which all blessings proceed.
"Love is the fulfilling of the law." 'Tis not the mere actionthat is valuable in
itself. 'Tis the love from which it proceeds that stamps a value upon it, and
gives an endearing charm and beauty to it. When a servile fear engrossesthe
whole man, it locks up all the active powers of the soul, it cramps the abilities,
and is rather a preservative againstsin than an incentive to virtue. But love
quickens our endeavours, and emboldens our resolutions to please the object
beloved; and the more amiable ideas we entertain of our Master, the more
cheerful, liberal, and animated the service that we render Him will
consequentlyhe. Upon love, therefore, the Scriptures have justly laid the
greateststress,that love which will give life and spirit to our performances.

I. I SHALL INQUIRE INTO THE NATURE AND FOUNDATION OF OUR
LOVE TO THE DEITY. The love of God may be defined a fixed, habitual,
and grateful regardto the Deity, founded upon a sense of His goodness, and
expressing itself in a sincere desire to do whateveris agreeable, andavoid
whateveris offensive to Him. The process ofthe mind I take to be this. The
mind considers that goodness is everywhere stamped upon the creation, and
appears in the work of redemption in distinct and bright characters. It
considers, in the next place, that goodness, a lovely form, is the proper object
of love and esteem, and goodnessto us the proper objectof gratitude. But as
goodness exists nowhere but in the imagination without some goodBeing who
is the subjectof it, it goes on to considerthat love, esteem, and gratitude is a
tribute due to that Being, in whom an infinite fulness of goodness everdwells,
and from whom incessantemanations of goodnessare ever flowing. Nor does
the mind resthere; it takes one stepfarther to reflect that a coldspeculative
esteemand a barren, unactive gratitude is really no sincere esteemor
gratitude at all, which will ever vent itself in strong endeavours to imitate a
delight to please and a desire to be made happy by the Being beloved. If it be
objectedthat we cannot love a Being that is invisible, I answerthat what we
chiefly love in visible beings of our ownkind is always something invisible.
Whence arises that relish of beauty in our own species?Do we love it merely
as it is a certain mixture of proportion and colours? No;for, though these are
to be takeninto the accountas two material ingredients, yet something else is
wanting to begetour love; something that animates the features and bespeaks
a mind within. Otherwise we might fall in love with a mere picture or any
lifeless mass of matter that was entertaining to the eye. We might be as soon
smitten with a dead, uninformed, unmeaning countenance, where there was
an exact symmetry and regularity of features, as with those faces whichare
enlivened by a certaincheerfulness, ennobled by a certain majesty, or
endearedby a certaincomplacencydiffused over their whole mien. Is not this
therefore the chief foundation of our taste for beauty, that it giveth us, as we
think, some outward notices of noble, benevolent, and valuable qualities in the
mind? Thus a sweetnessofmien and aspectcharms the more because we look
upon it as an indication of a much sweetertemper within. In a word, though
the Deity cannotbe seen, numerous instances ofHis goodness are visible
throughout the frame of nature. And wherever they are seen, they naturally
command our love. But we cannotlove goodness abstractedlyfrom some
Being in which it is supposed to inhere. For that would be to love an abstract
idea. Hitherto, indeed, it is only the love of esteem. The transition, however,
from that to a love of enjoyment, or a desire of being made happy by Him, is
quick and easy:for, the more lovely ideas we entertain of any being, the more

desirous we shall be to do his pleasure and procure his favour. Having thus
shown the foundation of our love to God, I proceed—
II. TO STATE THE DEGREEAND POINT OUT THE MEASURES OF
OUR LOVE TO HIM. The meaning of these words, "Thoushalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength," is, that we are to serve God with all those faculties
which He has given us: not that the love of God is to be exclusive of all other
loves, but of all other rival affections;that, whenever the love of God and that
of the world come in competition, the former undoubtedly ought to take place
of the latter. To love God, therefore, with all our heart is so far from
excluding all inferior complacenciesthatit necessarilycomprehends them.
Our love must begin with the creature, and end in Him as the highest link in
the chain. We must love, as well as argue, upwards from the effectto the
cause;and because there are severalthings desirable even here under proper
regulations, conclude that He, the Makerof them, ought to be the supreme,
not the only, objectof our desires. We cannot love God in Himself without
loving Him in and for His works. We are not to parcelout our affections
betweenpiety and sin. Then is our affectionlike a large diamond, most
valuable, when it remains entire and unbroken, without being cut out into a
multitude of independent and disjointed parts. To love the Lord with all our
strength is to put forth the active powers of the soulin loving and serving
Him. It is to quicken the wheels and springs of actions that moved on heavily
before. It is to do well without being wearyof well-doing. The love of God is a
settled, well-grounded, rational delight in Him, founded upon conviction and
knowledge. It is seatedin the understanding, and therefore not necessarily
accompaniedwith any brisker agitations of spirits, though, indeed, the body
may keeppace with the soul, and the spirits flow in a more sprightly torrent
to the heart, when we are affectedby any advantageous representationof
God, or by a reflection on His blessings. This I thought necessaryto observe,
because some weak menof a sanguine complexion are apt to be elated upon
the accountof those short-lived raptures and transient gleams of joy which
they feel within themselves;and others of a phlegmatic constitution to
despond, because they cannotwork themselves up to such a degree of fervour.
Whereas nothing is more precarious and uncertain than that affectionwhich
depends upon the ferment of the blood. It naturally ceases as soonas the
spirits flag and are exhausted. Men of this make sometimes draw near to God
with greatfervency, and at other times are quite estrangedfrom Him, like
those greatbodies which make very near approaches to the sun, and then all
at once fly off to an immeasurable distance from the source of light. You meet

a person at some happy time, when his heart overflows with joy and
complacency:he makes you warm advances offriendship, he gives you
admittance to the inmost secrets ofhis soul, and prevents all solicitationby
offering, unasked, those services which you, in this soft and gentle seasonof
address, might have been encouragedto ask. Wait but till this flush of good
humour and flow of spirits is over, and you will find all this over warmth of
friendship settle into coldness andindifference; and himself as much differing
from himself as any one personcan from another; whereas a person of a
serious frame and composure of mind, consistentwith himself, and therefore
constantto you, goes on, without any alternate heats and colds in friendship,
in an uninterrupted tenour of serving and obliging his friend. Which of these
two is more valuable in himself and acceptable to you? The answeris very
obvious. Justso a vein of steady, regular, consistentpiety is more acceptable
to that Being with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of change,
than all passionate sallies andshort intermitting fits of an unequal devotion.
Truly to love God is not then to have a few warm notions about the Deity
fluttering for a while in the breast, and afterwards leaving it void and empty
of goodness. Butit is to have the love of God dwelling in us. It is not a religious
mood or humour, but a religious temper. It is not to be now and then pleased
with our Makerin the gaietyof the heart, when, more properly speaking, we
are pleasedwith ourselves. It is not to have a few occasionaltransientacts of
complacencyand delight in the Lord rising in our minds when we are in a
vein of goodhumour, as the seedin the parable soonsprung up and soon
withered away, because it had no root and deepness ofearth, but it is to have
a lasting, habitual, and determinate resolution to please the Deity rootedand
grounded in our hearts, and influencing our actions throughout.
III. I PROCEEDTO EXAMINE HOW FAR THE FEAR OF THE DEITY IS
CONSISTENTWITH THE LOVE OF HIM. "There is mercy with Thee,
therefore shalt Thou be feared," is a passagein the Psalms very beautiful, as
well as very apposite, to our presentpurpose. The thought is surprising,
because it was obvious to think the sentence shouldhave concluded thus:
There is mercy with Thee, therefore shalt Thou be loved. And yet it is natural,
too, since we shall be afraid to draw upon ourselves His displeasure, whom we
sincerelylove. The more we have an affection for Him, the more we shall
dread a separationfrom Him. Love, though it castethout all servile fear, yet
does not exclude such a fear as a dutiful son shows to a very affectionate but a
very wise and prudent father. And we may rejoice in God with reverence, as
well as serve Him with gladness. Perlove, if not allayed and tempered with
fear and the apprehensions of Divine justice, would betray the soulinto a

sanguine confidence and an ill-grounded security. Fear, on the other hand, if
not sweetenedand animated by love, would sink the mind into a fatal
despondency. Fear, therefore, is placedin the soul as a counterpoise to the
more enlarged, kindly, and generous affections. Itis in the human constitution
what weights are to some machines, very necessaryto adjust, regulate, and
balance the motion of the fine, curious, and active springs. Happy the man
who can command such a just and even poise of these two affections, that the
one shall do nothing but deter him from offending, while the other inspirits
him with a hearty desire of pleasing the Deity.
(J. Seed, D. D.)
Love of God peculiar to Christianity
J. Vaughan, M. A.Do you know that ours is almost, if not quite, the only
religion which teaches us to love God? The heathen do not love their gods.
They are afraid of them; they are such horrid, ugly things; they are so fierce;
they fear them. It was thought that the Esquimaux had no word for "love" in
their language. At last they found one nearly two lines long. It makes two lines
in a book — you could hardly say it. But ours is very short. If I were an
Esquimaux, and I had to say "love," I should have to write a word of two
lines, made up of all sorts of words. It is a greatprivilege that we can love
God.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Love buried
J. Vaughan, M. A.I have heard it said of a man, "Thatman is a grave!"
because something in him lay dead and buried. What do you think it was?
Love. Love was dead and buried in him, so the man was a grave! I hope I have
no graves here. I hope there is nobody here that is a grave;a person in whom
love lies dead and buried.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Thy God
J. Vaughan, M. A."Thoushalt love the Lord thy God." You won't love Him,
you will never love the Lord, till you can callHim yours. "Thy God." "My
God." "He is my God." If a little girl likes her doll, she says, "Mydoll." if a
boy likes his hoop or bat, he says, "My hoop; my bat." We say, "My father;
my mother; my brother; my sister;my little wife; my husband." "My is such
a nice word. Till you can saythy" or "my "you will not love God. But when
you cansay, "My God!" then you will begin to love Him. "The Lord thy
God." When one of the Roman emperors — after a great triumph, a military

victory — was coming back to Rome, he went up the Appian hill in great
state, with his foes draggedat his chariotwheels. Many soldiers surrounded
him, adding to Iris triumphant entry. On going up the hill, a little child broke
through the crowd. "You must not go there," said the soldiers, "thatis the
emperor." The little child replied, "True, he is your emperor, but he is my
father!" It was the emperor's own little boy. He said, "He is your emperor,
but he is my father." I hope we shall be able to say that of God. He is the God
of everybody; but he is my God specially. He is not only the Creatorof the
world, — but He is my God!
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
How it is that we love God
J. Vaughan, M. A.What is the way to do it? I will tell you. When I look at
some of you boys and girls down there, I cannotsee much of your right cheek,
but I cansee your left cheek very clearly, because the light comes that way,
shines directly down upon you. That is the way I see them. How do I love
God? Love comes from God on me; then it shines back again on Him. I must
put myself where God canshine upon me; then His love shining upon me will
make a reflection go back againto Him. There is no love to God without that.
It is all God's love reflectedback to Him. Have not you sometimes seenthe
sun setting in the evening, and it has been shining so brightly on a house that
you have thought, "Reallythat house is on fire"? It was only the light of the
sun shining back again, the reflection. So if the love of God shines on your
heart, then it will shine back in love to Him. Did you ever go near a great high
rock where there was an echo? You said a word, back it comes to you; you
said, "Come!come!" It said, "Come!come!" It was an echo. It was your voice
coming back to you. It is God's love that comes back to you when you love
Him. It is not your love. You have no right to it. It is God's love shining upon
you makes your love go back to Him. God's love touching you goes back to
Him. That is the way. I hope you will so love God.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Love for God at the bottom of everything
J. Vaughan, M. A.In one of the wars in which the Emperor Napoleonwas
engaged, we readthat one of his old soldiers, a veteran, sustaineda very bad
wound; and the surgeoncame to dress it and probe it. He was feeling it with
his probe, when the man said to the surgeon, "Sir, go deep enough; if you go
quite deep, you will find at the bottom of my wound 'emperor!'" It was all for
the love of the emperor. "You will find the word 'emperor' at the bottom of
my wound." I wish I could think in all our wounds, on everything we do, we

could find quite at the bottom of it, "I have got this wound for love of the
Emperor. The love of my Emperor has given me this wound." O that we
might find at the bottom of everything, "God!" God!"
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Love for God supreme
J. Vaughan, M. A.I will tell you another thing. Many years ago, there lived a
schoolmasterin the Netherlands. It was at the time that a very wicked
persecutionwas going on againstthe Protestants, whenthey had "The
Inquisition." It was a very cruel thing. The inquisitors, as they were called,
put this poor man to the torture of the rack. Theypulled his limbs almost
asunder. This rack was a horrible instrument! have you ever seenone? You
may see them in some museums. These inquisitors put men on the rack, and
then pulled their joints out, thus putting them to horrible pain! When on the
rack, the inquisitor said to this poor schoolmaster, "Do youlove your wife and
children? Won't you, for the sake of your wife and children, give up this
religion of yours? Won't you give it up?" The poor old schoolmastersaid, "If
this earth were all gold, if all the stars were pearls, and if that goldenglobe
and those pearly stars were all mine, I would give them all up to have my wife
and children with me. I would rather stay in this prison, and live on bread and
waterwith my wife and children, than live like a king without them. But I will
not for the sake ofpearls, or gold, or wife, or children, give up my religion, for
I love my God more than wife, or child, or gold, or pearls." But the
inquisitors' hearts did not softena bit; they went on inflicting more tortures,
till the man died on the rack. He loved God with "all his mind, and soul, and
heart, and strength." Do you think we could go to the death for Him? If we
love Him, we shall every day do something for Him. What have you done this
day to show your love to God?
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
I should just like to point you to a few ways by which we may show our love to
God
J. Vaughan, M. A.Supposing you had got a very dear friend — someone
whom you loved very much — should you like to be quite alone with that
friend, and tell him your secrets, andfor him to tell you his secrets?Didyou
ever do that? If you have a friend, I am sure you would like to be quite alone
with him, and talk secrets. This is just what you will do with God if you love
Him — you will like to be quite alone with Him; you will tell Him your secrets,
and God will, tell you His secrets. He has promised this, "The secretof the
Lord is with them that fear Him." He will tell you things He does not tell to

everybody. He will tell you things you have not heard before. I will tell you
another thing. Do you know anybody you love very much? If they go away
from you, don't you like to have a letter from them? and when a letter does
come, don't you read it from beginning to end without one wandering
thought? I don't think you can say your lessons withouta wandering thought;
but if you had a letter from a dear friend, I think you would give it all your
best attention — from the first word to the last. Well, is there a letter from
God? Yes. Here it is — the Bible! It is a letter from God Himself. If you love
God, you will love His letter, and you will read it very lovingly, and
attentively, and give your whole mind to it.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Loving those like God
J. Vaughan, M. A.If you have gota friend you love very much, you will like
anybody who is like your friend. You will saysometimes, "I quite like that
person, she is so like my mother; he is so like my friend." You will love other
Christian people, because youcan say of them, "Theyare so like my Jesus, so
like my God. I will love them therefore." So you will like poor people. I will
tell you why. I will tell you a little story, I do not know whether you ever heard
of it. There was a gentleman who always usedto saygrace before dinner, and
he used to say,
"Be present at our table, Lord,
Be here and everywhere adored:"and his little child, his little boy, said,
"Papa, you always ask Jesus Christto come and be present at our table, but
He never comes. You ask Him every day, but He never does come." His father
said, "Well, waitand see." While at dinner that very day, there was a little
knock at the door, given by a very poor man indeed, and he said," I am
starving; I am very poor and miserable. I think God loves me, and I love God,
but I am very miserable; I am hungry, wretched, and cold." The gentleman
said, "Come in; come and sit down, and have a bit of our dinner." The little
boy said, "You may have all my helping." So he gave him all his helping; and
a very nice dinner the poor man had. The father — after dinner — said,
"Didn't Jesus come? Yousaid He never came. There was that poor man, and
Christ said, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the leastof these, My
brethren, ye have done it unto Me!' Christ sends His representatives!What
you have done to that poor man, it is the same as if you had done it unto
God." Then I am sure if you love people very much, you will love to work for
them, and you will not mind how hard, because you love them. If you love
God, you will love to do something for God. Like Jacobfelt about Rachel:"He

served sevenyears for Rachel, and they seemedunto him but a few days, for
the love he had to her." I will tell you one more thing. If you love a person
very much, and he has gone awayfrom you, you will love to think he is
coming back again.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Do you love Jesus
J. Vaughan, M. A.? — A long time ago, a gentleman, a young man, was
travelling in a coach, andopposite to him there sata lady, and the lady had a
very little girl on her lap, a very sweetpretty little girl. This young man was
very much pleasedwith the little girl: he played with her, took greatnotice of
her, he lent her his penknife to play with; and he sang to her, and he told her
little stories;he liked her so exceedingly. When the coacharrived at the hotel
where they were to stop, this little girl put her face close to the young man's,
and said, "Does 'oo love Jesus?"The young man could not catchit, and so he
asked, "Whatdo you say, my dear?" She said again, "Does 'oo love Jesus?"
He blushed, and went out of the coach, but he could not forget the question.
There was a large party to dinner, but he could hear nothing but, "Does 'oo
love Jesus?"After dinner, he went to play billiards, and while playing he
could not forgetit "Does 'oo love Jesus?"He went to bed, uncomfortable in
his mind. When on his bed at night, in his wakefulmoments and in his
dreams, he could only hear the same question, "Does 'oo love Jesus?"The
next day he had to meet a lady by appointment, he was still thinking about it,
he could not forget it, but spoke a little out loud, and when the young lady
came in, he said, "Does 'oo love Jesus?"She said, "What are you talking
about?" He said, "I forgot you were present. I was saying what a very little
girl said to me yesterday, 'Does 'oo love Jesus?'"She said, "What did you say
to her?" He replied, "I said nothing. I did not know what to say." So it went
on. Five years afterwards, that gentleman was walking, I think it was through
the city of Bath. As he was going along the streets, he saw at the window the
very lady who had had the little girl on her lap. Seeing her, he could not help
ringing the bell, and askedif he might speak to her. He introduced himself to
her thus: "I am the gentleman you will remember, perhaps, who travelled
with you in a coachsome years since." She said, "I remember it quite well."
He said, "Do you remember your little girl asking me a question?" She said,
"I do, and I remember how confusedyou were about it." He said, "MayI see
that little girl?" The lady lookedout of the window, she was crying. He said,
"What! what! is she dead?" "Yes, yes," was the reply. "She is in heaven. But
come with me, and I will show you her room. I will show you all her
treasures." And the gentlemanwent into the room, and there he saw her

Bible, and a greatmany prize books, very prettily bound; and he saw all her
childish playthings, and the lady said, "That is all that is now left of my sweet
Lettie." And the gentleman replied, "No, madam, that is not all that is left of
her. I am left. I am left. I owe my soul to her. I was a wickedman when I first
saw her, and I was living among other wickedpeople, and living a very bad
life. But she saidthose words to me, and I never forgot them. And since that
time I am quite changed. I am not the man I was. I am now God's. I can
answerthat question now. Don't saythat all of little Lettie is gone." And now
I say to you, and to everybody in this church, "Does 'oo love Jesus?"
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The nature of love to God
John James.I. THAT THE LOVE WHICH WE OUGHT TO CULTIVATE
AND CHERISH, IN REFERENCETO GOD, IS SUPREME IN ITS
DEGREE. "Thoushaltlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind;" thus reminding us that, in every respect, God
is to have the preeminence, because He possessesa right of absolute and entire
proprietorship in us, as the author and the end of our existence becauseHe
only is adapted, in Himself and in the benefits which He has to bestow, to
constitute the happiness of man, as an intelligent and immortal being. And,
indeed, it cannot be otherwise:it is utterly impossible that the love of God
should be a subordinate principle. Wherever it exists it must be the ascendant;
from its own nature it cannot mix with anything that is unlike itself, and, in
reference to its object, it cannot by possibility admit of a rival. For what is
there in us to which it can be subordinated? Can the love of God in us be
subordinated to the love of any sin? Certainly not; for "if any man love Me,"
said the Saviour, "he will keepMy commandments." Can the love of God in
us be subordinated to the love of fame? Certainly not — "How can ye
believe," said Christ, "while ye seek honourone of another, and seek notthe
honour that comethfrom God?" Can the love of Godbe subordinated in us to
the love of the world? Mostcertainly it cannot. This is as inimical to it, and as
unlikely to mix with it, as any other principle or feeling that can be specified:
"Love not the world," says the Apostle, "neither the things of the world; if
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," — and "The
love of money is the root of all evil." Can the love of God be subordinated in
us to the love of creatures? Canit be subordinated to the love of the various
comforts and enjoyments of this life? Mostcertainly it cannot — for what says
our Lord? Why, He asserts thus much on this subject that if any man love
houses or lands — that if any man love father or mother — that if any man
love wife or children — that if any man love sisteror brother, more than Him,

he is not worthy of Him. Nay, indeed, He goes beyond this, and gives us to
under. stand, that where the continuance or preservation of our own life is
inimical to, or incompatible with, the performance of our duty to Christ, even
to this our love to God is not to be subordinated; for, says He, "If any man
love his own life more than Me, he is not worthy of Me." This is the view we
are to take of that gracious empire establishedoverman by Jesus Christ: it is
not the reign of coercionorof fear, but of freedom and of love. It supposes the
entire surrender of our hearts to Christ, so that Christ is enthroned in our
affections, and exercisesentire dominion over us, bringing every imagination
and thought of the heart into entire subjection. It would be just as foolish to
say, that a kingdom was given up to a conqueror while at the same time its
strongholds were in possessionofhis adversary, as for an individual to say
that he had surrendered his heart and affections to Christ, while, at the same
time, these affections are placedon anything opposedto the will and inimical
to the interests of Christ.
II. THAT THE LOVE OF GOD, AS INCULCATED UPON US BY
HIMSELF, IS TO BE REGARDED AS A RATIONAL EXERCISE OF OUR
AFFECTIONS, IMPLYING THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE ESTEEM OF GOD.
Man is not only the subject of passion, but also of reason. It is originated in us
by the knowledge ofGod; it arises from the admission of the soul into an
acquaintance with God. But this is not all: there are vastmultitudes that have
this knowledge ofGod; at the same time, they love not God. And hence we
would distinctly and seriouslyimpress it upon your minds that that knowledge
of God which is to originate in us supreme affectionfor Him, implies the
peculiar and personalapplication to us of the benefits of His grace — it
supposes our reconciliationto God by the forgiveness ofour sins, through
faith in the redemption that has been wrought out by Jesus Christ. When this
becomes the case, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghostgiven unto us;" then our love assumes the characteroffilial love, the
love which a child feels to its parent.
III. THAT THE LOVE OF GOD, INCULCATED UPON US BY THE
PRECEPTS OF HIS HOLY GOSPEL, SUPPOSES SUPREME DELIGHT
OR COMPLACENCYIN GOD. Now, the exercise ofour affections forms a
very prominent part of that capacityof happiness by which we are
distinguished; for our own experience has taught us that the presence of that
objecton which our affections are placedis essentialto our happiness;and
that its absence atany time occasions anindescribable feeling of pain, which
cannot be alleviatedby the presence of other objects, howeverexcellentin
themselves — for this very reason, that they do not occupy the same place in

our affections. Look, forinstance, at the miser: let him only accumulate
wealth and add house to house and land to land, and to the presence and
claims of every other object he seems completelyinsensible: his attention is
completely engrossedwith the one object of his pursuit; and, dead to
everything else, he cares not to what sufferings or privations he submits, if he
can only succeedin gratifying his penurious avidity. Now, look atthe same
principle in reference to the love of God. Wherever it exists, it lifts the soul to
God, as the source and fountain of its happiness — it brings the mind to
exercise the utmost possible complacencyin God — it leads the mind to seek
its felicity from God — it brings it to Him as to its common and only centre.
God is the centre to which the soul can always tend the sun in whose beam she
can bask with unutterable pleasure and delight; she finds in Him not merely a
stream but a sea — a fountain of blessedness, pure and perennial, of which no
accidentof time can ever deprive her.
IV. THAT THE LOVE OF GOD, AS INCULCATED UPON US IN HIS
WORD, IMPLIES THE ENTIRE AND PRACTICALDEVOTEDNESSOF
OURSELVES TO HIS SERVICE AND GLORY. Ordinarily, you know,
nothing is more delightful than to promote, in any possible way, the interests
of those whom we love: and whateveris the sacrifice which we make, however
arduous the duty we perform, in order to accomplishthis object, if successful,
we feel ourselves more than adequatelyrewarded.
(John James.)
The greatcommandment
C. S. Robinson, D. D.I. HOW CAN THIS LOVE BE DISCRIMINATED?It is
directed towards "the Lord thy God" (Psalm 16:8).
1. It may be known by its sensibility. It is the love of a bride on the day of her
first espousals (Jeremiah2:2). A new convert wants to be demonstrative. At
the ancientRoman games, so we are told, the emperors, on rare occasions,in
order to gratify the citizens, used to cause sweetperfumes to be rained down
through the vastawnings which coveredthe theatres; and when the air grew
suddenly fragrant, the whole audiences would instinctively arise and fill the
space with shouts of acclamationfor the costlyand delicate refreshment (Song
of Solomon6:12).
2. This love will be characterizedby humility. Call to mind David's
exclamation, for a notable illustration of such a spirit (2 Samuel7:18, 19). A
sense ofunworthiness really renders a lovely person more welcome and
attractive.

3. This love will be recognizedby its gratitude. Christians love their Saviour
because He first loved them. He beganthe acquaintance. A true penitent will
remember how much she owes for her forgiveness,and will break an
alabasterbox, costlyand fragrant, overthe Redeemer's head(Mark 14:3).
Once Dr. Doddridge securedfor a sorrowful woman the pardon of her
husband who had been condemned for crime; she fell at the minister's feet in
tears of overchargedfeeling, and exclaimed, "Oh, my dear sir, every drop of
blood in my body thanks you for your kindness to me!"
4. So this love will be manifested in consecration. Whatbelongs to God shall
be defiled by nothing earthly (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17). Once among the
Scottishhighlands, the queen of Great Britain, storm stayed, took refuge in a
cottage. Nottill after she had gone did the simple-hearted housekeeperlearn
who it was she had been sheltering under her roof. Then she gently took the
chair which her sovereignhad occupied, and setit reverently aside, saying,
"None shall eversit in that seatless than the heir of a crown!"
5. Then this love will be distinguished by its solicitude. It would seem as if
every true convert might hear Jesus saying to him, as He said to the impotent
cripple at Bethesda on receiving his cure: "Behold, thou art made whole: sin
no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee!"
II. So we reacha secondquestion: HOW MAY THIS LOVE BE INJURED? It
may be wilfully "left," and so lost (Revelation2:4).
1. It may lose the "heart" out of it. It was fabled that Mahomet's coffin was
suspended in the air half way betweenheavenand earth; that is no place for a
Christian surely while he is alive. Christ said, "Ye cannot serve God and
mammon." Look at the accountgiven of the military people who wanted to
make David king (1 Chronicles 12:33-38). No man can love God with a heart
for Him and another heart for somebodyor something else (Psalm 12:2,
margin).
2. This love may lose the "soul" out of it. See how fine seems the zeal of
Naamanwhen he scoops up some loads of earth from the soil of Israel, that he
may bear it over into Syria for an altar to Jehovah;and now see how he takes
the whole worth out of it by the absurd proposition that, when his royal
master walks in processionto the temple of Rimmon, he may be permitted to
go as he always went, kneeling down to the idol with the rest of the heathen
worshippers (2 Kings 5:17, 18). When the heart is gone, and so there is no
interest in loving, and the soulis gone, and there is no purpose in loving,
where is love?

3. Then this love may be injured by losing the "mind" out of it. All true
affectionis intelligent. Defectionsfrom the true doctrines of the Scriptures are
inevitably followedby a low state of piety.
4. This love may lose all the "strength" out of it. When the worldly Lord
Peterboroughstayedfor a time with Fenelon, he was so delighted with his
amiable piety that he exclaimed at parting, "If I remain here any longer, I
shall become a Christian in despite of myself." Love is a power; but it is
possible that the force of it shall be mysteriously spirited away while the form
of it might appearunchanged. One secretsin, or one indulged lust, will turn
the whole man from its influence. We saw the story of a ship lost not a great
while ago;it went on the rocks miles awayfrom the harbour which the pilot
said he was entering. The blame was passedas usual from hand to hand; but
neither steers. man's skill, nor captain's fidelity, nor sailor's zeal, could be
chargedwith the loss. Then it came to light at lastthat a passengerwas trying
to smuggle into port a basketof steelcutlery hid in his berth underneath the
compass;that swervedthe needle from the north star. A single bit of
earthliness took all the strength out of the magnetism. That is to be the fate of
those who try to smuggle little sins into heaven.
III. Now comes our third question: HOW SHOULD THIS LOVE BE
EXERCISED?This brings us straight to the eleventh commandment, which
our Lord declares is new in some respects, but in its spirit is like the restof the
Decalogue (John13:34). We are bidden to love our neighbour as ourselves.
1. Who is our neighbour! The answerto this is found in the parable of the
GoodSamaritan (Luke 10:29).
2. What are we to do for our neighbour? The answerto all such questions is
found in the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). We are to comfort his body, aid his
estate, enlightenhis mind, advance his interests, and save his soul. There is a
story that a priest stoodupon the scaffoldwith Joanof Are till his very
garments took fire with the flames which were consuming her, so zealous was
he for her conversion. "None know how to prize the Saviour," wrote the good
Lady Huntingdon, "but such as are zealous in pious works for others."
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Supreme love to God, the chief duty of manI. THE PLACES OF SCRIPTURE
WHERE THIS GREAT DUTY IS ENJOINED, EITHER EXPRESSLYOR
IMPLICITLY, are the following: Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one God." Deuteronomy 10:12;Joshua 22:4, 5; 2 Thessalonians
3:5.

II. Let us look a little into THE NATURE OF THIS COMPREHENSIVE
DUTY. And without controversyit is the most excellentqualification of the
human nature. This love supposes some acquaintance with God: not only a
knowledge that there is such a Being, but a just notion of His nature and
perfections. And further, this love of God is justifiable in the highest degrees
possible;nay, it is more laudable in proportion to its ardency, and the
influence it has on our thoughts and on the actions of life: whereas love to our
fellow mortals may rise into unlawful extremes, and produce ill effects. Even
natural affection, such, for instance, as that of parents to their children, may
exceeddue bounds and prove a snare to us, and be the occasionof many sins:
but the love of God can never have too much room in the heart, nor too
powerful an influence on our conduct; but ought to rule most extensively, and
to govern and direct in all our purposes and practices.
III. Let us now, in some particulars, considerTHE EXCELLENCYOF THIS
DUTY.
1. The object of it is the infinitely perfect God; the contemplation of whose
glories gives the angels inexpressible and everlasting delight; nay, furnishes
the eternalmind with perfect unchangeable happiness.
2. Love to God is a celestialattainment: it flames in the upper world; heaven
is full of this love. God necessarilyloves Himself; takes delight in His own
glory; reflects upon His own perfections with eternalcomplacency:the Son
loves the Father;the angels and the spirits of the just behold the face of God
with entire satisfaction.
3. The love of Godis the noblest endowment of the mind of man. It more
exalts the soul, and gives it a greaterlustre than any other virtue. Nay, this is
the most excellentpart of godliness, internal godliness.
4. The excellencyof this gracious principle, love to God, will appear, if we
considerit as productive of the most excellentfruits. Love is the fulfilling of
the law. It prepares us for communion with God, for gracious
communications from Him, for delight in Him, for a participation of the
comforts of the Spirit, for the light of God's countenance, a sense ofHis love to
us, and a lively hope of glory.
5. Without love we cannot be approved and acceptedof God, either in
religious worship, or in the common actions of life. What the apostle says of
faith, "Without faith it is impossible to please God," we may likewise sayof
love.
6. Love to God entitles us to many specialprivileges and blessings.

JESUS' TEACHING ON LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE

JESUS' TEACHING ON LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE

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